


Tongue-tied and Terrified

by TaikoTurtle



Series: Trimberly Tumblr Prompts [2]
Category: Power Rangers, Power Rangers (2017)
Genre: Does anybody know Trini's last name for the movie, F/F, Kimberly Hart - Freeform, Power Rangers - Freeform, Trini - Freeform, please let me know, power rangers 2017, short little fluffy oneshot, trimberly - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-10
Updated: 2017-05-10
Packaged: 2018-10-30 03:23:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10868028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TaikoTurtle/pseuds/TaikoTurtle
Summary: Small fic based off the tumblr prompt:“I borrowed your pen and it’s been 2 weeks and I still haven’t returned it because every time I talk to you, I am reminded of the massive fucking crush I have on you which always ends up leaving me speechless”





	Tongue-tied and Terrified

**Author's Note:**

> A small fluffy oneshot. Hit me up on tumblr too! Taikoturtle

She knows it’s been long overdue and at this point she practically owns the damn thing, but Trini can’t seem to bring herself to return the pink and silver ballpoint pen back to its rightful owner.

Twirling it skillfully in hand, the bland monotone voice of their history teacher - who Trini’s fairly certain is just a clone of Ben Stein - drones on in the background of her daydreams as images of Kimberly vividly flashes in her mind. Her sarcastic remarks, no holds barred attitude, and a smile so positively radiant that it can cure cancer (it’s a scientific fact) Kimberly is by all means everything that Trini didn’t even know she wanted in life.

And now she’s everything she needs.

Becoming Rangers together forged a bond that transcends mere friendship. Sure, there’s a deeper connection that comes with the powers, but it’s the experience that brought them together that makes everything carry such intense gravity.

And that’s why it caught Trini so off guard when she realized how much _more_ Kimberly meant to her.

It was Zack who pointed it out one day when they were training together. He made some offhanded joke to her about how her Kimberly senses must be tingling, because Trini always knew exactly where the other girl was. She punched him in the shoulder, muttering how much of a dumbass he always is, but then it dawned on her.

Why _did_ she always know where Kimberly was? Was it their bond going haywire? Was she always staring at her? Oh shit, was she being a lecherous creep?

Zack nudged her again and laughed, “Trini and Kimberly sitting in a tree--”

She pulled him into a headlock before suplexing him so hard that the other rangers halted their spars and gawked in stunned silence. Trini’s eyes made contact with Kimberly’s and Trini’s face suddenly felt hotter than the damn sun. Nobody paid it any mind, but from that day forward it was like a light bulb switched on and Trini couldn’t turn it _off._

Having those kind of emotional epiphanies wreck her to the core because now she can’t stop thinking about it.

She’d pass by Kimberly in the hallways at school and suddenly she couldn’t speak. Words would die in her throat or she’d stumble clumsily across her sentences like a child in grade school. Her normally calm and collected demeanor would shatter in seconds from the mere presence of one Kimberly Hart.

“Ugh, this is so stupid!” Trini breaks out of her reverie and glares at the little pink pen.

That’s it, today is the day.

Today is the day she gives the cursed thing back to Kimberly.

She’s been trying the past two weeks ( _two damn weeks!)_ but every time she tried to hand the pen off, her brain would just shut down.

Not anymore.

“I’m the Yellow Fucking Ranger, I don’t fear anything,” Trini mutters to herself as she gathers her belongings and hastily shoves them into her beat up backpack. She's taken on Putties, she's taken on Goldar, she's taken on Rita Repulsa. There's not a single thing in this world that she can't face and come out on top--

“Hey Trini, want to grab some food after school before we head down to the pit?”

Trini’s blood runs cold and it’s like her mind blacks out because the next thing she knows, she’s staring up into Kimberly’s deep, twinkling eyes and she can’t function.

_Say something you idiot!_

Her mind is screaming but her limbs refuse to respond appropriately, and for a good five seconds they’re both steeped in silence. Kimberly doesn’t seem to mind. Her gaze still focuses on Trini like it’s the most normal thing in the world, but she has no idea about the clamminess that’s overtaking the smaller girl’s hands or how her heartbeat sounds like stampeding wildebeests.

Trini doesn't dare put words to the raging storm of emotions in her chest because then it makes it too real, makes it _too scary._ She’d never want to mess up the friendship she’s got going, so she figures hell, maybe there are some things in this world that she’s afraid of.

She can’t ever cross that line.

Her grip on the little pink pen tightens and she swallows thickly. “Yeah sure.”

 

//

 

Week three rolls around and the pen is now empty. Trini hadn’t even realized how much she used it day in and day out (though Zack noticed. Boy did he give her shit for that) but now she has nothing left to return. With no ink, it’s essentially useless, so there’s no point in returning it, right?

Trini spins the pen around on her desk top like it’s in a game of spin the bottle and it ironically stops with the tip pointed at Kimberly. She chuckles darkly at the irony of it all, but with each passing day the ache in her chest grows stronger and there’s a good ninety percent chance that she’s going to implode from the pressure.

The fluttering feelings are getting harder to ignore, and the more she tries to dismiss them the further she keeps pushing Kimberly away.

But Kimberly keeps finding her. _Everywhere._

On some days it’s like she’s suffocating, or at least what she imagines suffocating to feel like, and Trini has to escape to catch her breath. She hates feeling like a coward, but that’s all her body can do at this point. Words continue to fail her and she’s absolutely terrified that she might blurt out the worst.

So she runs.

But no matter where she hides - the library, the bathroom, a deserted hallway - Kimberly keeps popping up as if she has a Trini radar.

“Do you want to go early for some training?”

“Hey, let’s go shopping for some new workout clothes.”

“I’m hungry. Want to hit up the coffee shop for some donuts? I heard they have bacon glazed this week.”

They’re all harmless questions, but Trini knows that Kimberly’s testing the waters, that she’s searching for something deeper. There’s a layer of disquiet laced within her words, almost as if she knows what’s transpiring between them, but she never pushes beyond the surface and it scares her.

But then one day Kimberly corners her at her locker with no way out.

“Why are you avoiding me?”

Her eyebrows are scrunched and she’s biting her lips. The question in itself is harmless enough, but the uneasy mixture of hurt and concern makes Trini feel instantly guilty.

“I’m not.”

“Trini, you’ve barely spoken more than a few words to me today.”

Trini stares blankly into her locker and puts on her most stoic face possible but it’s barely masking the war waging within and she’s sure that her poorly constructed facade will crumble in due time.

“Kimberly, I’m fine. Everything’s okay.” She’s gripping the pink pen again, clutching it like it’s a buoy keeping her barely afloat amidst the sea of her conflict, but she still can’t bring herself to face her.

“You know, I can smell bullshit a mile away.” Kimberly inches closer until the hairs on Trini’s arm stand on end. “Especially when it’s yours.”

“What does that even mean?” Trini retorts indignantly as she pivots around with a fiery glare.

Bad mistake.

She severely miscalculated their proximity and now Kimberly’s all but five inches away from her face making Trini’s mental facilities shut down.

The way Kimberly’s hair cascades down and frames her face (when did her bob grow so long?) as she’s looking down into her eyes renders Trini breathless. Even the ugly fluorescent school lights on the ceiling form a backlit glow behind her head as if she were an angel descending from above to bless her with her beauty and Trini almost laughs because how ridiculous is that notion?

But none of that matters because she can’t fucking speak.

“I...I uh…”

 _Smooth. Real smooth._ There’s thousands of words bouncing around in her mind like molecules on crack but she can’t seem to grab any of them to string into a coherent sentence. Her mouth gapes open like a fish out of water and she’s only vaguely aware of the mild heart attack happening in her chest, but then Kimberly’s eyebrow perks up and she snatches the pink pen out of Trini’s hand.

“Hey, I’ve been looking for this! Did you have it this whole time?”

Nodding dumbly, Trini gulps audibly and disregards the mild panic seizing her body. “I--yeah. It’s out of ink.”

Kimberly’s expression falls flat. “This is why you were dodging me?”

“No!” Trini blurts out forcefully. “Of course not! I just--”

She abruptly truncates her sentence. She reminds herself that she can’t cross that line. Not now, not ever. She can’t risk the possible fallout, the potential damage it can do to their team's synergy, to their--

Kimberly grabs her arm and Trini barely has time to slam her locker shut before she’s being ushered away with gentle urgency.

“What’re you doing?"

Her demanding inquiry falls on deaf ears as the class bell rings and Trini knows she’s going to be late to class now. The hallways start to empty as Kimberly pulls the smaller girl into the bathroom.

“Kimberly, what’s going on--”

Kimberly's lips come crashing down on Trini’s with such force that the two of them stumble backwards into the wall and Trini’s only mildly aware of the dull throb at the back of her head but only because she’s far too focused on the softest pair of lips enveloping her own.

Kimberly’s pressing into her body and her hands pull Trini’s hips closer so that there’s no space between them and now Trini is breathless but for a _very_ different reason.

A tiny whimper escapes her throat and she knows Kimberly won’t let hear the end of it because Angel Grove’s resident badass _whimpering?_ Never in a million years. But she doesn’t give a damn because her senses are firing on overload and she can’t get enough of it.

The way Kimberly’s hands rake up and down her back and waist, the way her heavy breathing and flushed cheeks screams how much she wants this too - every move Kimberly makes drives Trini closer to the edge of insanity and she doesn’t want it to end. She wants to exist in a vacuum where she can feel the pressure of Kimberly’s body on her’s and the inferno raging around them, but she knows it can’t last forever so she’s only faintly disappointed when Kimberly pulls back and pauses.

She rests her forehead against Trini’s, both of them chests heaving and with ragged breath, and Kimberly breaks into a tiny laugh ringing with pure happiness.

“You don’t know how long I’ve been waiting to do that.”

Trini looks up at her curiously, her brow furrowed. “You knew this whole time?”

Grinning sheepishly, Kimberly shakes her head. “Zack may have hinted at it.”

“Ugh, I’m going to kick his ass!” Trini growls, her eyes narrowing dangerously.

Kimberly presses a light kiss on Trini’s nose and her lips tug into a little smirk. “Don’t be too hard on him. He only mentioned it because, and I quote, ‘Trini is as assertive as a dead skunk when it comes to relationships.’”

“What the hell, Zack! That doesn’t even make sense!”

Trini groans as if it weren’t true, but Kimberly can’t wipe the soft smile off her face as she hugs the smaller girl closer. “You couldn’t even return my pen.”

“That’s not even remotely close to being the same thing and you know it,” Trini huffs in response. “Besides, I can be assertive.”

“Oh yeah?” Kimberly retorts, an edge of challenge in her voice. “Then why don’t you show me.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
